𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦 𝐌𝐚𝐱𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐇𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 died on 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟑, 𝟏𝟖𝟔𝟓. Born on June 4, 1803 in the parish of Troqueer in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, Scotland, and he studied at the University of Edinburgh. He worked as a tutor for some time, and began to publish literary works, but was ordained to the ministry and in 1836, he was installed as pastor in the parish of Torphichen. He is counted as one of the "Disruption Worthies of 1843," and in the same month of May he published his noteworthy history of the Westminster Assembly. He would later minister with great success in Free Church of Scotland congregations at St. Andrews and Edinburgh. In 1857, Hetherington was appointed to the chair of Apologetics and Systematic Theology at the Free Church College, Glasgow.

He was a poet and an historian, who authored many interesting works, including 𝑇𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒 𝐷𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑆𝑘𝑒𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑃𝑜𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑡𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑 (1829); 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑢𝑙𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 (1834); 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟'𝑠 𝐹𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 (1838); 𝑇ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝐶ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 (1840); 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑡𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑 (1841); 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐴𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑦 (1843); 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑜𝑚𝑒 (1849); and 𝑃𝑜𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑉𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑆𝑢𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 (1851). He also edited the works of George Gillespie, and the practical works of John Willison, and was the founder and editor of the Free Church Magazine, and he wrote the preface to the 𝐴𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑡𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑 (1845).

He died at his home in Glasgow, but was buried at the Grange Cemetery in Edinburgh. He is remembered as a man of many gifts who labored using them all for the service of Christ and his Kirk. Log College Press